‘Go back and read what I said about Pandya,’ Michael Holding clears his stand on the Indian all-rounder

By Chaitanya Laxman

Image credit @ ICC

The former West Indian cricketer Michael Holding received a lot of flak for his recent comments on Hardik Pandya but Holding still backed his statement asked people to go back and read or listen to what he said about Pandya.

After India’s horrific performance in the first two Tests against England, Holding lashed the Indian players and especially Pandya who is in the team as an all-rounder. Holding said that he doesn’t consider Pandya as the next Kapil Dev and the youngster is not a Test all-rounder material.

Image credit @ ICC

However, in the third Test, Pandya picked a five wicket haul and then slammed a fifty to play a vital role in India’s win. This performance made fans criticize Holding for his comments. But the West Indian fast bowler clarified his statement by saying that he was more critical of the people who told him that Pandya is the next Kapil Dev and not Pandya himself.

The West Indian legend was trolled heavily by fans after the third Test.

The former pace bowler also appreciated the Indian all-rounder for his attitude. Holding stated that he read somewhere that Pandya said that he wants to be a Hardik Pandya and doesn’t want to be known as the new Kapil Dev. According to Holding this is the right attitude.

Holding further explained the evidence behind his comments on Pandya. He pointed out that in the first Test, Pandya bowled only ten overs and only 17 in the second Test and he didn’t get a lot of runs as well. Hence he believed Pandya as not yet there in terms of Test all-rounder.